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To keep artichocks all the yeare. Take your artichocks & put them on the fire, in could water, let them boyle two walmes, to fifie you much take a quarter of a pound of allome, & a some small wort, & put into it then let it boyle, two walmes more, then take out the artichocks, & let them cole, then put into the licor two handfuls of nettles & boyle them in the licor, then straine it & let it stand till it be cold, then put it to the Artichocks, & in the putting in put a quart of veriuice to it, let them bee two or three dayes gathered afore you doe them & when you spend them, wash them in hot water, before you boyle them.1 From The Complete Receipt Book of Ladie Elynor Fetiplace, 1604 My Translation: Take your artichokes & put them on the fire, in cold water, let them boil two walmes, to 50 you take a quarter of a pound of alum, & some small wort & put into it then let it boil two walmes more, then take out the artichokes & let them cool, then put into the liquid two handfuls of nettles & boil them in the liquid, then strain it & let it stand till it be cold, then put into it the artichokes, & in the putting in put a quart of verjuice to it, let them be two or three days gathered before you do them & when you use them, wash them in hot water, before you boil them. My Recipe: Prepare your artichokes (clip off leaves, remove chokes). Place in cold water with a little acid/lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Drain and place in cold water, enough to cover (about 4 cups). Bring to a boil. For 50 small artichokes, add 1 c sea salt and a handful of herbs (thyme & marjoram) and 1 cup verjuice. Taste. Add more verjuice as needed. Bring to a boil. Skim as needed. Place in crock, being sure that there is sufficient liquid to prevent air in the container. Seal container. Wait several days before using. To use, remove them from the crock and rinse before using. 1 Receipt Book, pages16-17. Preserved Artichokes A&S XL:Preserved Foods Page 1 Background on The Complete Receipt Book of Ladie Elynor Fetiplace, 1604 Lady Elynor Fettiplace (c. 1570 - c.1647) married into a branch of minor Elizabethan nobility. She lived at Appleton Manor, Sapperton in Gloucestire.2 Her cousin was Sir Walter Raleigh and she must have been acquainted with the court physician as a couple of the recipes quote him. She collected recipes for all manner of household needs and began a formal compilation in 1604. In 1647 she gave the 225 page Receipt Book to her niece and goddaughter, Mrs. Anne Hornar; wife of Jack Hornar of “Little Jack Horner…” It was added to over during the late 17th and early 18th C. There are 2 versions of the book in print. The transcription used here was done by John Spurling; who inherited the book. Background on Artichokes in Tudor and Elizabethan England Artichokes are native to the Mediterranean region. They were brought to England by the Dutch in the 2nd quarter of the 16th C. They were well known in the Medici households from the mid-15th C. They are known to have been grown in Henry VIII’s garden in 1530. They were also are grown and for sale in London markets in the 2nd half of the 16th C. Artichokes are regarded as an aphrodisiac and were considered a great delicacy as noted by several contemporary writers3. When artichokes are used in recipes, they use only the bottoms/hearts. They were usually parboiled in salted water and, either before or after, the leaves and choke were removed. Two of the contemporary recipes for artichokes are Lady Fettiplace’s Artichokes in Cream Sauce4 (1604) and Thomas Dawson’s to Make a Dish of Artichokes (1596)5. Some of the other recipes for artichokes are John Murrell’s To Stewe Hartechockes in Cream (1621)6 and To Boyle a Rabbet7, Robert May’s Forcing for Any Dainty Fowl (1660)8. There are 3 other recipes for preserving artichokes. They are in Sir Hugh Platt’s Delightes for Ladies (1609)9 – broth of the stalks of artichokes and water, Joseph Cooper’s The Art of Cookery Refin’d and Augmented (1654)10 – salt water brine, and The Ladies Closet Opened (1639)11 – water vinegar solution. Cooper specifically mentions using them for pies during Christmas and in stews. 2 Riley, page 79. 3 Lorin, page 36-37. 4 Riley, page 83 5 Dawson, Thomas. The Good Housewife’s Jewel. Southover Press, Sussex. 1996 ISBN 1-870962-12-5. Page 111. 6 Lorin, pages 35-36. 7 Lorin, pages 234-5. 8 Lorin, pages 236-7. 9 Platt, page 52. 10 Lorin, page 37. 11 Closet, page 16. Preserved Artichokes A&S XL:Preserved Foods Page 2 From Translation to Recipe Ingredients: • Allume – Alum was commonly used as a mordant for dye. However, it was a crystallized iron or aluminum sulfate and not something I thought should be ingested. The Wikipedia12 notes that it has a sweetish and astringent taste and is a salt form. It was still being used in brining as recently as 1947. 13As sea salt is and was commonly used for brining preservation, I substituted salt for my recipe. • Worts – Worts is an Anglo Saxon term referring to herbs. While it could refer to St. John’s Wort, I chose to interpret it as herbs. Since thyme and marjoram were common kitchen herbs used with vegetables, I choose to use them. • Nettles – Young nettle leaves were cooked as a vegetable and added to soups, stews, omletes, pudding, beer and wine in medieval times. It was considered a medicinal plant and recommended for various illnesses including gout.14 Since artichokes were a favorite of Henry VIII who had gout, and since Lady Fettiplace was minor nobililty, it is not improbable that she gathered this recipe from some court cook who combined the two ingredients. While nettles can be eaten today according to some sources, it is said to “make the stomach warm” and I was uncomfortable adding them. I chose to not add them to the recipe. • Verjuice – Verjuice is a sour fruit juice. You can find it in the Middle Eastern markets. As its taste is distinctive I choose to use it. It has an acidity that is a little less than vinegar. Additional Term: Walmes – A glossery of Medieval Cooking Terms15, is maintained by food historian and author Cindy Renfrow. She defines Walm or Walmes as to boil or bubble. In this case it seems redundant and the term appears to be a length of time. Understanding the Process of Preserving with Salt and Acid: Pickling or brining is a form of fermentation as well as a method of encapsulating a food item in an atmosphere where air and hence bacteria will not reach it or grow. To make the process work you need the liquid to cover the food, you need an acid with a high enough acidity to kill or slow the growth of bacteria, and you need a salt to enable the necessary bacteria to create the fermentation. Pickling vinegar is 6-8% acetic acid.16 A brine that will lift an egg “is a solution of 1 cup salt to 5 cups water”17. A lower salt solution that 12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alum 13 Kander, page 573. 14 Fournier-Rosset, pg. 29. 15 http://www.thousandeggs.com/glossary.html#W 16 Kander, page 572. 17 Ibid. Preserved Artichokes A&S XL:Preserved Foods Page 3 will still promote fermentation, but will not last more than a few weeks is a solution of 1 cup salt to 9 cups water.18 My Recipe: Reasoning: Prepare your artichokes (clip off leaves, As noted, usually only the bottoms were remove chokes). used. One recipe uses the meat from the tips of the leaves for the sauce. Place in cold water with a little acid/lemon Artichokes rapidly blacken. Acid help juice to prevent discoloration. prevents this. The recipe in The Ladies Closet Opened, talks about keeping the pieces from bruising. In addition, display was important, so I felt keeping the pieces from darkening was important. Drain and place in cold water, enough to Since this is the liquid that will become the cover (about 4 cups). Bring to a boil. brine, having sufficient to cover is an easy way to ensure this happens. Bringing it to a boil before adding the salt helps with the salt dissolving. For 50 small artichokes, add 1 cup sea salt 1 c. salt will make a strong brine of near to 1:5. Coarse sea salt works better for brining. and a handful of herbs (thyme & marjoram) Thyme and marjoram were commonly used herbs. and 11/2 cup verjuice. Taste. Add more The verjuice is fairly acidic. We don’t verjuice as needed. Bring to a boil. know the acidity of their version. Modern recipes for pickling have 1:1 to 1:12 solutions of vinegar to water. Based on the final total quantity of liquid, 1 1/2cup is approx. 1:4. Boiling the verjuice will also kill any bacteria in it. The original recipe adds it cold. Skim as needed. You want brine to be clear. Skimming removes the impurities. Also a step noted in Ladies Closet, see above. Place in crock, being sure that there is The original recipe does “cold canning”. sufficient liquid to prevent air in the “Hot canning” will create a seal on the jar.